Ducks: bird-brains or abstract geniuses? Researcher tells Jonny and Ash how the pond-dwellers are more canny than meets the eye

Everybody knows that they can spot a child bearing a bag of stale bread at a thousand paces, but ducks may be more intelligent than we give them credit for.

At least, that's the view of Antone Martinho, Animal Behaviourist Researcher at Oxford University and co-author – alongside fellow researcher Alex Kacelnik – of a study into the thinking process of ducks, examining the ability of ducklings for abstract thought.

Here he tells Jonny Gould and Ash about the study and the findings it produced.